Garment curing apparatus



June 30, 1 970 s. MICHAELS 3,517,864

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June 30, 1970 Filed Feb. 28, 1966 l7b" i INVENTOR.

SIDNEY 'MICHAELS ATTORNEYS I June 30, 1970 s. MICHAELS 3,517,864

' mmmmcunmc APPARATUS Filed Feb. 28. 1966 3 s eetssheet s (0 co r-LIINVENLTOR. SIDNEY MICHAELS Af'rtoansvs States Patent 3,517,864 GARMENTCURING APPARATUS Sidney Michaels, Novato, Calif., assignor to LeviStrauss & Co., San Francisco, Calif., a corporation of Cahfornia FiledFeb. 28, 1966, Ser. No. 530,549 Int. Cl. D06c /00 US. Cl. 223-57 3Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A garment curing apparatus forsuspending pants or other garments which have been treated with asynthetic resin in such a manner that permanent marking of the garmentdoes not occur during curing of the synthetic resin. Each trouser leg isindependently suspended between a pair of rigid prongs and the spacingbetween the prongs of each pair is adjustable to accommodate varyingfabric thicknesses. A plurality of pairs of prongs are aflixed to acommon assembly which is rotatably attached to a conveyor means to carrygarments through the processing steps.

This invention relates to a garment curing apparatus. More particularly,the invention relates to a garment curing apparatus which provides forsuspending pants or other garments which have been treated with asynthetic resin in such a manner that permanent marking of the garmentdoes not occur during curing.

With the advent of the permanent press treatment of fabric, conventionalgarment carriers have not been satisfactory. That is, when garments aretreated with synthetic resins and thereafter cured in ovens to effectpermanent pressing, conventional carriers leave permanent markings inthe places where the garment contacts the carrier. For example, folds ofgarments hung over rods or wires tend to be permanently fixed in thegarment upon curing. Similarly, when spring-urged clips or conventionalpants hangers are used to suspend garments during curing, the points ofcontact between the hanger and the garment leave permanent markings onthe fabric when cured. It has been proposed to reduce the size of thecontact points between hanger and garment. However, after the garmentsare impregnated with synthetic resin compositions and before curing inthe oven, the weight of the garment is relatively heavy. Consequentlywrinkles tend to form about the point of contact between the suspensionmeans and the garment suspended. These wrinkles are fixed in the fabricupon curing of the synthetic resin in the oven.

In addition, conventional means for suspending garments, particularlytrousers, require a considerable amount of handling and manual contactwith the fabric. When the fabric is impregnated with synthetic resin andis not yet cured, extreme care must be taken to avoid unnecessarycontact with the uncured fabric.

It has also been proposed to interpose a layer of sponge rubber betweenthe uncured garment and the hanger to reduce the formation of permanentcontact lines. However, such holding means does not completely obviatethe occurrence of wrinkles and does not reduce the amount of manualhandling. Moreover, the sponge rubber on ordinary hangers does not lastfor a sufficient period of time. The oven temperatures tend to hardenthe rubber or synthetic resin of the sponge material so that it crumblesand wears off in a short period of time. In addition, when theimpregnated garments have a high moisture content, the sponge materialtends to pick up a certain amount of resin material from the garment,resulting in an uneven finish.

Patented June 30, 1970 In general, it is an object of this invention toprovide a novel garment curing apparatus which will overcome the defectsand disadvantages pointed out above in connection with the prior art.

A further object of the invention is to provide a garment curingapparatus which permanently impresses only the desired creases andavoids all other wrinkles, folds, and markings.

It is another object of the invention to provide a novel garment curingapparatus which is relatively permanent and not subject to excessivewear and deterioration upon repeated heating.

An additional object of the invention is to provide a novel apparatuswhich applies no positive pressure against uncured garments beyond theweight of the garment itself.

A further object of the invention is to provide a novel apparatus whichis capable of carrying a large number of garments through a series ofgarment-treating operations with a minimum requirement for manual labor.

Further objects and features of the invention will ap pear from thefollowing description in which the preferred embodiment of the inventionhas been set forth in detail in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawing.

Referring to the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a front view of the conveyor means of this invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view along line 2-2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view along line 3-3 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a schematic illustration of the garment curing apparatus ofthis invention.

FIG. 5 is a top view of a portion of the apparatus taken along line 5-5of FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view along line 66 of FIG. 5 showing thesuspension of a pant leg in each pair of prongs.

FIG. 7 is a bottom view of the supporting means shown in FIG. 5.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view along line 88 of FIG. 5 of the trousersupporting assembly unit.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view along line 9--9 of FIG. 7 illustratinganother view of the trouser supporting assembly unit.

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view similar to FIG. 6 showing theadjustable feature of the prongs.

FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view showing an alternative embodiment ofthe trouser supporting assembly unit.

Referring particularly to FIG. 1, the garment curing apparatus of thisinvention comprises a suitable conveyor 11, such as one having anendless link chain 12 supported by rollers 28 from the guide rail 14.The endless conveyor chain may be powered by suitable means (not shown)to provide a steady movement between the various stations along thebelt.

In the embodiment shown, an additional tracking means or rail 16 isprovided to carry the various trouser supporting units 17, one of whichis illustrated in FIG. 1. As will be presently explained, portions ofrail 16 form sidings extending along processing areas, and otherportions are parallel to the rail 14.

Each unit 17 is carried by a hanger 21 which is tracked on the rail 16.Preferably the hangers 21 are of the swivel type whereby each unit 17may be turned about its central vertical axis to facilitate loading andunloading operations. The particular hanger illustrated consists of abracket 22 welded to unit 17 having an upper horizontal plate 23 formedwith the groove 24. This groove serves to accommodate a pin 25 which inturn is attached to the lower end of the hanger rod 26. Rod 26 iscarried by the hanger body 27 which in turn is provided with rollers 28for tracking on the rail 16 (FIG. 3). Pins 30 extend laterally from thehanger 3 body 27. One of these pins is adapted to be engaged by apick-up arm 29 secured to the chain 12. It will be evident that when ahanger 21 is being carried by a portion of rail 16 which extendsparallel to rail 14, one of its pins 30 will be engaged by a pick-up arm29, whereby the hanger and the unit 17 suspended from the same will bemoved along with the conveyor chain 12. For siding portions of rail 16which may extend along loading, unloading and processing areas, thehanger will remain stationary but may be moved manually to a positionwhere it is engaged by the conveyor chain. While on a siding, thetrouser supporting unit 17 may be manually rotated or indexed 180 aboutthe axis of its hanger to facilitate access to both sides of the unit.The pin 30 of each unit is gravity urged into the associated groove 24whereby detent means is formed tending to retain the unit 17 in aposition parallel to the adjacent portion of the rail 16, but permittingmanual rotation or 180 indexing as just described. In order to maintainunit 17 in a horizontal position without tipping, rod 26 is shown toextend through a plate 31 placed parallel to plate 23 and bolt 32 isthreaded on rod 26 beneath plate 31.

The construction of each unit 17 will be described after an explanationof a typical plant layout (FIG. 4). However, it may be stated that eachunit comprises a plurality of pairs of horizontal trouser supportingprongs, the prongs being preferably in two duplicate assemblies wherebygarments may be applied or removed from both sides of the unit.

In the plant layout schematically illustrated in FIG. 4, line 41represents the path followed by the conveyor chain 12, and is shownheavier than the lines 42 and 43. The latter represents sidings formedby portions of the rail 16. From the incoming conveyor portion 41a, eachunit 17 may either continue along the conveyor portion 4112 or beswitched oil the siding 42 or 43. Diversion of a unit onto one of thesesidings is accomplished by conventional track switching means such as iswell known in the art. After units leave the sidings 42 and 43, they areintroduced back onto the main conveyor portion 410, which picks up andthen conveys the units into the conveyor portion 41d located within thecuring oven 44.

For simplicity, in FIG. 4 a single conveyor chain 12 is indicated forfeeding and picking up units from the siding and for moving the unitsthrough the oven 44. However, in practice it is more desirable toprovide a plurality of separate conveyors each comprising an endlessconveyor chain 12. For example, one such endless conveyor chain can beemployed for feeding the sidings, another for receiving the units fromthe sidings, and a third for moving the units through the oven. Withsuch an arrangement the various endless conveyor chains can beseparately driven at suitable speeds to provide proper timing.

The garments to be processed have either been manufactured from resinimpregnated fabrics or have been impregnated with a suitable resincontaining impregnating material after the garments have beenfabricated. The sidings 42 and 43 may pass in proximity with thepressing machines 46, 47 and 48. In the particular plant layout of FIG.4, two sets of such pressing machines are shown to operate on garmentsremoved from and reapplied to units on the two sidings 42 and 43. By wayof example, as garments enter the siding 42, the pressing machine 48,known as a topper operates on the top portion of the trousers (i.e. thelowermost portions as the garments are suspended by the extremities ofthe pants legs). After the tops are pressed in the machine 48, thetrousers are processed in the machines 46 and 47 known as leggers, inwhich one pant leg is pressed in each machine. After the trousers havebeen pressed as just described, they are again loaded in the unit 17,and the unit advanced to the main conveyor portion 41c where it ispicked up in the manner previously described and traversed to the curingoven.

The oven 44 may take any convenient form and may have any desiredarrangement of conveyor path. The size of the oven should be such as toprovide proper capacity and provide a proper curing temperature andholding period to effect the desired curing. In a typical instance,where the impregnating resin is of the urea formaldehyde type, thecuring temperature may be of the order of from 250 to 400 F., withholding periods of the order of from 10 to 20 minutes. Specifically, 15minutes at 340 F. has been found to be highly satisfactory.

After passing through the curing oven 44, the garments are conveyed to asuitable unloading station (not shown.) where the garments are removedfrom the unit 17 and packaged for shipment. Here again the conveyorchain employed may be separate from that used to move the garmentsthrough the curing oven.

The preferred construction of the trouser supporting assembly unit 17 isillustrated in FIGS. 5-11. In this instance each unit consists of twoduplicate assemblies 17a and 17b which are suitably attached side byside to the bracket 22 of the hanger 21. It will be evident that inplace of using two duplicate assemblies, a single assembly may form acomplete unit, and in such event the 180 indexing means may be omitted.

Each of the assemblies 17a, 17b consists of prong mounting means in theform of elongated base members 56 and 57 (FIGS. 7 and 8). The members 56of both assemblies are attached to the bracket 22. These members mayconveniently be in the form of angle irons with overlapping flanges 58and 59, and preferably are retained together for limiting slidingmovement. Thus the ends of member 57 (FIG. 8) are shown provided withportions 61 and 62 which underlie the slots 63 and 64 in the overlyingmember 56. Bolts 66 and 67 are applied in the manner illustrated andserve to loosely retain the parts together whereby members 56 and 57 maybe adjusted with respect to each other in the direction of their length.In addition, bolts 65 (FIG. 7) are shown as supplementing bolts 66 and67 in retaining members 56 and 57 together. The members 56 and 57 areurged in opposite directions by the compression spring 68. One end ofthis spring seats upon portion 69 of member 56 and is retained in placeby a screw or like member 71, and the other end seats upon thecorresponding end portion 75 of member 56. Screw 71 may be manuallyadjusted to limit movement of member 57. A manually adjustable screw 72has threaded engagement with portion 73 of member 56 and its end abutsthe adjacent end portion 74 of member 57. It will be evident that byadjusting the setting of screws 71 and 72, the members 56 and 57 can beadjusted longitudinally with respect to each other and fixed in place toprevent relative movement. When screws 71 and 72 abut ends 74 and 75 ofmember 57, there is no relative movement between members 56 and 57 andspring 68 becomes unnecessary. As will be presently explained, thispermits adjustment of the spacing between the prongs.

A plurality of pairs of prongs are attached to the members 56 and 57 andextend horizontally for supporting the garments. The prongs 76 and 77 ofeach pair are attached to the members 56 and 57 respectively. Thus thebase portion 78 of prong 76 is shown attached as by means of bolts 79 tothe member 56 (FIG. 9). Similarly, the base portion 81 of each prong 77is attached as by means of bolts 82 to the member 57. The prongsthemselves may be either integral with the base portions 78 and 81, ormay be made separately and attached to the base portions as by means ofattaching screws 83.

The trouser engaging portions 86 and 87 of the prongs may vary indetails of construction, but in general they should provide parallelportions of predetermined spacing between which the trousers or othergarments are engaged. In the particular construction illustrated inFIGS. 5, 6 and 10, the portions 86 and 87 have a configuration in crosssection corresponding to an inverted V, thus providing upwardlydivergent side portions 88, and lower edge portions or margins 89. Theedge portions 89 of each pair have a predetermined spacing (FIG. forreceiving the garment, and assuming that the garment is to beconventional trousers, the portions 89 are notched as indicated at 90 toaccommodate the side seams.

In normal operation the spacing between the prongs is set in accordancewith the character of the garment to be processed. In general thespacing should be of insuflicient width to pass the cuff of the garment.However, it should be sufficient to pass the seam of a pant leg, andshould bear a predetermined relationship to the overall thickness of thecloth forming the leg.

The spacing between the lower margins of the prongs should be such thatthe garment is secured during passage through the oven yet no heavymarking of the uncured garments occurs. If the spacing is too wide, thecuff will pass through. If the spacing is too narrow, permanent creasesor marks will be formed on the pant leg along the lines of engagementwith the prongs. Conventional pants hangers exert spring pressure whichleaves marks on uncured garments. By the arrangement herein described,no positive pressure is exerted on the garment beyond the weight of thegarment itself and this pressure is confined to a narrow area adjacentthe bottom of the plant leg.

Since the prongs support the inverted trousers beneath the cuffs (orthickened terminal portions or hems on cuffless trousers) and notchesare provided to accommodate the side seams, the pant leg, along the linewhere it is supported, consists of two thicknesses of cloth.Consequently the spacing between prongs of each pair must be slightlymore than two thicknesses of the cloth from which the garment is made topermit the pant leg to slide in and out. On the other hand, with certaincuffless trousers the spacing cannot be equal to four thicknesses ofcloth since the terminal hem of the pant leg is only four thicknesses ofcloth and the garment would fall through the prongs.

Accordingly, a spacing between the prongs which is more than twothicknesses of the cloth from which the garment is made and less thanfour thicknesses is suflicient to suspend the pant leg. In practice, atleast 2 mils (0.002 inch) more than two cloth thicknesses is generallyrequired to permit entry and removal of the pant leg in the pairs ofprongs. Similarly, at least mils (0.01 inch) less than four cloththicknesses is usually necessary to hold the pant leg from fallingthrough the prong space when the unit is in motion. Expressed as aformula with X being the thickness of the cloth from which the gar mentis made, the prong spacing (S) should be:

sg2x+0oo2 inch 55421-001 inch Preferably the prong spacing should notexceed three cloth thicknesses so that gripping of the pant leg issecure but still without leaving a mark. The range of about 2X +0.01inch to 3X is preferred to give best gripping with no permanent marking.Any conventional measuring device may be used for measuring cloththickness, such as the Ames Thickness Measure available through CuttersExchange, Inc., Nashville, Tenn.

It will be evident that the spacing between the prongs may be set forgarments having comparable cloth thicknesses. However, where the cloththickness varies considerably, as for example with relatively heavycorduroy cloth, the spacing between the prongs must be adjustedaccordingly. This adjustment can readily be made by turning the screws71 and 72 at the ends of the supporting unit. We have found inpracticethat a maximum spacing between the prongs of 250 mils is generallyadequate for all of the more common types of cloth from which trousersare made although some corduroys may require greater spacing. To make aproper adjustment, the prongs are adjusted to provide a spacing lessthan four thicknesses of the cloth and more than twice the cloththickness plus two mils.

Due to the cantilever support in prongs 76 and 77 at portions '78 and81, a very small amount of give or flexibility is present at the openends of the prongs for easy insertion of the pant leg. Since prongs 76and 77 are rigid, the prongs do not spread to the extent that the pantleg falls through. Nevertheless, the added thickness of the side seamcan easily be introduced into notches by virtue of the cantileversupport. The compressibility of the fabric layers exceeds the give inthe prongs to further facilitate entry of the pant leg.

The prongs 76, 77 should be of sufficient length so that each pant legis engaged along its entire width. In general the prongs have a minimumarea of contact with the cloth, and no single point along the prongs hasa substantially greater contact pressure than the other parts. The factthat each pair of prongs holds a single pant leg permits each leg to beseparate from the other so that there is no physical contact betweenthem during curing, and there is no contact between the legs of adjacentgarments. The portions 88, being upwardly divergent, maintain the cuffsvertical without physical contact. In the curing oven, hot air isgenerally circulated with sufficient velocity to effect some movement ofthe garments. Here again support of the pant legs by the prongs is suchthat movement of the garments because of air currents in the curing ovendoes not cause physical contacts such as might cause undesirablemarkings.

In FIG. 6, two pant legs 91 are shown engaged with adjacent pairs ofprongs. It will be seen that the two legs are normally spaced apart toprevent direct physical contact. FIG. 10 illustrates how the prongs ofeach pair can be adjusted toward and away from each other to vary thespacing between the same. A minimum adjusted position is indicated indotted lines.

As explained above, adjustment between the prongs is desirable to adaptthe apparatus to various thickness of cloth. Where the garments beinghandled are made of comparable weight cloth, the prongs may be afiixedto a support member and the adjustment described above may be omitted.Thus as shown in FIG. 11, the base portions 92 of the prongs 93 and 94are secured as by bolts 96 and 97 to the support member 98. Assumingthat two assemblies are to be used to form one supporting unit, a commonmember 98 for both assemblies may be used as shown in FIG. 11. Member 98may be attached to bracket 22 of the hanger 21 (FIG. 5) as by bolts (notshown).

To summarize operation of the apparatus described above, the trousersimpregnated with synthetic resin are loaded onto the supporting units 17by placing one pant leg between each pair of prongs 86 and 87. Theconveying means moves a unit 17 to one of the available sidings 42 or 43for pressing. Upon entry to a siding (e.g., siding 42) the trousers arepressed in the pressing machine 48. Thereafter the legs of the trousersare pressed in machines 46 and 47, one leg being pressed in eachmachine. After pressing, the garments are again suspended on unit 17,and this unit moved for engagement with the conveyor portion 41c.Thereafter the garments enter the curing oven 44 to effect curing to apoint where further pressing of the garments is not necessary. Afterpassing through the curing oven, the garments may pass to a labellingstation where appropriate labels are applied, and thence to an unloadingstation where the garments are unloaded, inspected and packaged.

Since curing temperatures employed in the curing oven are of the orderof 250 to 400 F., care should be taken to use such materials in theconstruction of the conveying means and the supporting units as will notbe subject to deterioration. In practice it has been found satisfactoryto construct the prongs of die cast aluminum. The opposed exterior facesof edge portions 89 should be suitably finished to present smoothsurfaces to the garments. If desired, t-he prongs may be coated withsuitable materials,

such as Teflon. Such coating materials should be compatible with thecuring temperature employed.

The single spring 68 of the apparatus described above is preferably ofstainless steel to withstand repeated heating in the curing oven 44.Conventional spring steel tends to be tempered and fail after relativelyshort periods in the repeated heating and cooling cycle. For thisreason, springs are avoided in the apparatus described except for spring68. Spring 68 does not exert any substantial pressure on any given pantleg because of the frictional engagement of the members 56 and 57. Infact, spring 68 is unnecessary when both end screws 71 and 72 abutmember 57 at ends 75 and 74, respectively (FIG. 8). Spring 68 onlyserves to keep members 56 and 57 from sliding when either screw 71 or 72has been loosened. Thus, the pressure exerted on each pant leg is onlyabout half the weight of the garment itself, since positive springpressure is absent.

The apparatus described above employs one pair of prongs for each pantleg. While this is preferred it will be evident that with the embodimentillustrated in FIG. 11, the spacing between the prongs may be such thata single prong may be interposed between the two pant legs. In otherwords, only three prongs may be employed for tWo pant legs.

It will be evident from the foregoing that I have provided apparatuswhich has a number of desirable features as applied to thepermanent-press treatment of garments. The novel trouser supportingunits enable the trousers to be readily loaded and unloaded tofacilitate automated operations at various stations for quantity plantproduc- 8 pair being parallel and spaced apart such that marking of thegarment upon curing is avoided, and means for adjusting said cooperatingbase members relative to each other to adjust the spacing between theprongs of each pair.

2. A garment curing apparatus as in claim 1 wherein said adjustmentmeans consists of a single adjustable member cooperating with said basemembers which is adjusted manually to control the spacing between theprongs of all of said pairs.

. 3. Garment curing apparatus as in claim 1 wherein said first andsecond base members are elongated and disposed in adjacent parallelrelationship and in which said prongs extend substantially at rightangles to said base members.

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